Review: The Wingman

The Wingman by A. Poland
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Nathan has been in love with his best friend Lorcan since forever, but Lorcan has only ever seen him as a friend, and the wingman who talks to women on Lorcan's behalf. Lorcan is muscular and good-looking, a fan of the great outdoors, whereas Nathan is a dorky guy with poor hand-eye coordination, prone to tripping over his own feet. Nathan has resigned himself to chatting up long-legged women on Lorcan's behalf, until Lorcan mentions that his latest crush is a man! Torn between elation that Lorcan might like men and despair that he still doesn't consider Nathan as a potential love-interest, Nathan is horrified that Lorcan wants him to do his wingman thing with Lorcan's crush, Miles. Of course Miles is the male equivalent of Lorcan's previous female interests, he looks like a rock-star, he's a musician and he adores outdoors activities like camping and rock-climbing.

Somehow, against his better judgement, Nathan is persuaded to go on a weekend camping trip with Miles and Lorcan, Nathan blames it on the jetlag, where Nathan is supposed to ascertain if Miles is into men and praise Lorcan to the skies. Only things don't work out quite as planned.

I liked this, but the blurb basically gives away the entire plot so there's not much tension, and it was hard for me to see what Nathan saw in Lorcan because he seemed such a selfish jerk. The blurb mentions slow burn but I would say this was more of a gentle simmer, I think writing in the third person also created a feeling of distance between the reader and Nathan, telling us what Nathan was feeling rather than showing it.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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